A viral video shows the annual bonfire at a Florida high school.
Screenshot from Angel Castro on Facebook
A large pile of wood sits in a huge fire on a grassy lot before a Florida school resource officer walks up and stokes the small flames, the video shows.
This a split second of silence before the massive “boom”.
Orange and red flames shoot into the sky, tossing wooden pallets into the air.
“Oh my god,” someone can be heard saying in the background of the video amid screams, cheers and screams from the audience.
A video that went viral on social media, shows the explosion at the annual homecoming celebration at A. Crawford Moseley High School in Lynn Haven, Fla., on Oct. 5.
No one was hurt, but school officials called the incident “disturbing.”
“Deputies and firefighters were already on the scene, per our normal safety protocols, and so they immediately jumped in to make sure the fire remained contained,” officials said in a statement. “… Again, we know the explosion was alarming and we sincerely apologize to anyone who was disturbed or frightened by the loud noise.”
The school, which is about 100 miles southwest of Tallahassee and serves about 1,700 studentssaid this year’s bonfire “did not deviate from our normal bonfire procedures.”
The school resource officer who started the first fire is a a Bay County sheriff’s deputy and started fires for the past seven years without incident, Sheriff Tommy Ford said in a statement.
“We are not yet sure what caused the explosion, but we take responsibility for the incident,” he wrote. “Safety measures were taken to include the fire service on site and students positioned at a safe distance behind the fence, which prevented injuries or a fire, but this should not have happened.
“We apologize for any distress this may have caused, and I assure you that we are not officially engaged in bonfires,” the statement said.
People who shared a video of the blast on social media said they heard a loud noise coming from the school grounds.
“Thought there was a sonic boom!” one person wrote. “No, just Mosley’s bonfire.”
Officials are investigating the cause of the explosion, the school said.
